Editorial Roundup: Indiana

Columbus Republic. February 18, 2022.

Editorial: Affordable housing plans pose challenge, opportunity

Columbus is among many cities its size and larger with a shortage of quality affordable housing.

According to Realtor.com, the median home price in the Columbus market last year was $239,900 - a jarring 20% year-over-year increase in an already sizzling housing market. That tells us that people really want to live in this area and make their homes here, but it also signifies something troubling: Young people and first-time homebuyers worry that because of soaring prices, the American Dream of homeownership is becoming unattainable.

That's a problem, but it also could be an opportunity.

There is clearly a need in the market for new, quality affordable housing, and Arbor Homes is responding to it. Arbor, a leading regional homebuilder based in Indianapolis, is proposing to build a new addition along County Road 200W south of Lowell Road. The development would be south of Arbor's existing Abbey Place subdivision.

As The Republic's Jana Wiersema reported, Arbor proposes a development of about 280 new homes on 98.9 acres, including 92 of its 'œGenesis'ť designs - smaller homes clustered around a shared motor court. The Columbus Plan Commission has recommended the city council approve Arbor's requests for annexation and rezoning, though residents have voiced concerns.

The council will consider final approval in March, but it should take into consideration neighbors' concerns about drainage, traffic, landscaping, and the development's impact on local school enrollment.

There is every indication that is happening. City Councilman At-Large Tom Dell spoke up for the project at a public meeting but vowed the council 'œwill do everything we possibly can '¦ to make sure that the development is done correctly.'ť

There is every indication that is happening, too.

For its part, Arbor agreed in its rezoning application to commitments sought by planning staff regarding aesthetics, pedestrian connections, buffering, road improvements and more. As a housing industry leader, Arbor has a keen interest in its new Genesis design being desirable to homebuyers beyond just the unit price. To be sustainable as a business model, affordable units will have to appeal to the desires of buyers as well as the demands of the community.

In short, it's in everyone's interest to be good neighbors, and it's in the city council's interest to facilitate responsible development that is responsive to the concerns of residents and builds on what makes Columbus special.

The challenge of providing affordable housing isn't going away anytime soon, but what we've seen so far gives us confidence that the city is moving forward with due deliberation and commendable consideration of the community's concerns.

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Kokomo Tribune. February 17, 2022.

The Indiana Senate has amended House Bill 1116, eliminating some of the more egregious problems with a bill meant to increase restrictions on absentee voting.

To make absentee voting more difficult is all but guaranteeing our voter participation drops even more, which is bad news for a state that ranks 46th in the nation for voter participation.

Instead, we should do everything we can to increase voter participation so that our elections most accurately reflect the will of the people.

The Republican focus on election integrity is fueled by former President Trump's insistence that the 2020 election was rigged in favor of now-President Biden.

Despite Trump's best efforts, scant evidence has turned up of significant voter fraud or any major problems in election security.

It is unwise to place additional obstacles in the paths of voters when the claim of election security problems are dubious at best.

The Senate Election Committee has removed the clause that Hoosiers requesting an absentee ballot attest, under penalty of perjury, that they cannot show up to a polling place for the four weeks of early voting offered in their county.

Not only does this clause needlessly threaten people who are trying to vote, it would be a logistical nightmare to enforce.

The amended bill still would require Hoosiers to provide a driver's license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number when requesting an absentee ballot. This may be a reasonable requirement if there were credible evidence that our system is rife with fraud, which there is not.

The bill also places a burden on county clerks, who would be required to institute a voter verifiable paper audit trail by the 2024 election.

We applaud the state Senate for striking down some of the stronger requirements in the bill, but House Bill 1116 needs to die. Given where we stand in voter participation numbers, we expect our leaders to focus on increasing voter turnout rather than placing more obstacles in voters' paths.

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Indianapolis Business Journal. February 17, 2022.

Editorial: As public university, IU board must follow Open Door Law

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

That seemed to be Indiana University's approach to the state's Open Door Law, at least when it came to publicly approving a nearly $600,000 consulting contract awarded to outgoing President Michael McRobbie.

After months of ever-changing explanations from IU as to how its under-the-radar approval of the contract could have possibly complied with the law, Indiana's public access counselor appropriately and firmly concluded that it didn't.

'œDespite IU's casualness regarding high-dollar contracts, a contract extension or consulting agreement worth over $500,000 to a single employee is undoubtedly an action item that would need authorization via final action and warrant discussion in an open meeting,'ť Public Access Counselor Luke Britt wrote in an advisory opinion

But any obvious approval of the contract in an open meeting didn't occur until months after the contract already had been executed-and only then because of questions initially raised by law professor Steve Sanders and followed with news coverage from IBJ and Indiana Lawyer.

The issue came to light when Sanders learned that then-IU Board Chairman Michael Mirro signed a letter in May 2021 that quietly executed the contract without it being publicly reviewed or voted on at the next trustees meeting in June.

IU's first explanation was that the board approved the additional pay for McRobbie at its August meeting-even though IBJ's review of a video recording of the August meeting showed the McRobbie contract was not discussed. IU spokesman Chuck Carney said the contract was approved as part of a list of administrative actions that were not verbally detailed.

Then in a letter to the public access counselor in November, IU's then-general counsel Jackie Simmons offered a different explanation. She argued that the Open Door Law didn't apply because the trustees had authorized Mirro to act on their behalf.

By December, the McRobbie contract was on the trustees' monthly board meeting agenda and publicly approved. By year's end, Simmons and IU had parted ways.

Regarding the December board vote, Carney said the action was taken 'œout of an abundance of caution'ť and that the university considers the matter closed.

We don't. We think the university owes Hoosiers an explanation of how it will change its processes to assure transparency without a need for do-overs.

It should abide by the Open Door Law the first time.

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